Bali is a colorful, friendly photo destination, with visually attractive culture and landscape. The people are GREAT – very warm and friendly. The terraced rice fields are spectacular. The Hindu ceremonies are very insteresting to photograph. Food is delivious. Felt very safe at all times. I want to tell you what a wonderful experience last week was for me. I thoroughly enjoyed the trip and I feel I really learned a lot. I can see a progression in my pictures of getting better as the days went by…Thanks for all your help and the time you spent with us.
— Kathy Hornsby
Joel is a natural instructor and “cultural ambassador”. My photography has improved tremendously due to his instruction and encouragement. Prior to his trips, I was hesitant to approach people for their photos, but he shows us how to study a scene, be friendly, and ask permission to work with people, with wonderful portraits as the result! Now I can approach just about anyone with my camera and a smile and have a great experience where everyone is comfortable. Joel is always available to work one-on-one with us to address any areas of interest, such as challenging lighting situations, or varying our depth of field for the desired effects. And his critiques are fun and so helpful, challenging us to take chances with awesome results. He’s an exceptional photographic leader.
— K. Hornsby
We could not have had better local guides. All very informative, friendly, candid and incredibly knowledgeable. Loved all three of them. Joel prepared extensively for this trip and it showed, from his background knowledge of where we were going to his recommendations on how to best capture a certain scene. His graciousness with the local people we encountered set good examples, both for setting up optimum portrait opportunities and for being an excellent diplomat for the US. He did a good job leading the critiques as well.
— K.Hornsby
Joel was a fabulous leader!! He was patient, friendly, and spent huge amounts of his time answering questions and educating. I would definitely go on another trip with him.
— L Rose
Joel is kind, smart, funny and knowledgeable. He spent time with each of us individually as well as a group. He made an effort to find out what I was interested in and tweak it. He pushed me to work on my weaker areas such as photographing people and I overcame my reluctance to approach strangers I was interested in.
— L. Ellis
You could ask Joel anything about photography such as use of your camera, software, or workflows, he would thoughtfully and respectfully give you his opinion and advice. On top of that people just naturally gravitate to him, you couldnt walk down a street without children following him like the pied piper. I learned a lot of lessons from him that trip, not just about photography, but how to approach life in general. I would be honored to travel with him again.
— E. Phillips
We were able to experience Ireland’s beauty in that we were never rushed, and every area we visited had the history explained so that not only did we view it with an artist’s eye but also learned much about each site.
— L. Koe
